tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75637093813377697452024-03-13T00:37:23.531-07:00Elder Jordan MorganElder Jordan Morgan is serving in the Illinois, Chicago West Mission. Follow along on his many adventures!
Jordan loves to receive mail/email. You can contact him at:
morgan.jordan@myldsmail.net OR
Elder Jordan Morgan
Illinois Chicago West Mission
1319 Butterfield Suite 522
Downers Grove, IL 60515Kristyn Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547091448290436347noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563709381337769745.post-60482447029538909582015-07-06T20:19:00.001-07:002015-07-06T20:19:03.072-07:00He's a cheerleader now!<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">July 6, 2015</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">So the big thing this week is that we got a new mission president!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">His name is President Griffin, and he's super cool. He's from the</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">south (South Carolina), so he has a sweet accent. He's way more</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">touchy feely than President Fenn, though. So I may be in trouble. I</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">don't like hugs.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">The work has been going well. We have someone on date for baptism,</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">but she's been avoiding us. But every time she sees us, she's all</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">like "I'm so excited for my baptism!" I think it's because she knows</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">that there are things that she needs to start doing before she gets</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">baptized that she's not doing, so she's just sort of trying to sneak</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">into the font. We'll see how everything works out. I'm sure it'll be</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">fine.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Other than that, nothing super exciting has happened. Being a</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">district leader is sweet. We're basically cheerleaders, and it's nice</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">having another district leader to help you.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">I hope everything is going well back home. If I remember right,</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">doesn't Carter get home next week? That's pretty crazy. It's going</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">to be awesome.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Have a great week!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Jordan</span>Kristyn Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547091448290436347noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563709381337769745.post-18542970259594328682015-06-22T18:32:00.001-07:002015-06-22T18:34:02.420-07:00June 21, 2015--A baptism!June 21, 2015<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Marge: Homer! There's a man here who thinks he can help you!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Homer: Batman!?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Marge: No, he's a scientist.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Homer: Batman's a scientist.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Marge: It's not Batman!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Hello family!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">I already sent a picture from our baptism this week. His name is</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Adrian Love and he's the greatest, and the first person that I've ever</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">baptized, so that was super cool. We had him sit in a chair in the</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">font so we could do it. It was awesome.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">In other news, transfers are this week! I'm going to Joliet, which is</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">one of the sketchier parts in the mission, and I'm super excited. I</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">went on my very first exchange ever in Joliet, and in one day we got</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">chased by another car while driving, as well as see a drug deal (my</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">very first ever!). It was great. And we share a building with the</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Plainfield ward, which was my very first ward, and I'll get to see</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">everyone on Sunday's! It's going to be great!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">I hope everything is going well at home. Sorry my emails have been so</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">short lately. It just happens when you've been out longer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Love,</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Jordan</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><br /></span>Kristyn Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547091448290436347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563709381337769745.post-88492197276827249042015-06-22T18:31:00.001-07:002015-06-22T18:31:57.931-07:00June 15, 2015June 15, 2015<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Hey family!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">This week was really good. I spoke in church and it went alright, even</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">though I was super nervous. And we had two investigators at church!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">And Adrian is definitely getting baptized this week, and he wants me</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">to do it! It'll be my first time actually baptizing someone on my</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">mission, and it's going to be interesting because he's missing one of</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">his legs. We're probably going to have him sit in a chair when we</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">baptize him. Apparently there's precedent for that.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Other than that, there isn't a whole lot of new things going on.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Transfers are next week, and we find out this Saturday what is going</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">to be happening, so that'll be exciting. Then I'll only have three</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">more transfers left. Weird. Really weird. I don't like it. I mean,</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">obviously i'll be excited to go home. Being excited to come home</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">isn't "trunky". "Trunky" is when you pile out because you're going</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">home so soon. But I just love doing missionary work and am definitely</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">in a groove now, and I'm sad to be leaving that. But I still have 6</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">months left, so it's ok!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Have a great day!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Jordan</span>Kristyn Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547091448290436347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563709381337769745.post-23335473856573226362015-06-22T18:29:00.001-07:002015-06-22T18:31:40.681-07:00June 8, 2015--A talk in churchJune 8, 2015<br />
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Hi family!</div>
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I'm speaking in church this week, so I thought I would send my talk home and get feedback from you. I've been assigned to speak on "Dealing with trials by using the Atonement." </div>
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<span style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961);">"It Is I; Be Not Afraid"</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>There are two specific incidents mentioned in the Gospels involving storms on the Sea of Galilee. The first, perhaps better known instance, shows us the Lord in the role of the Master, exhibiting his dominion over the forces of nature. We all know the story: Christ and his apostles are caught in a storm at sea, and in an act of fearful desperation, they awake their leader and plead with him to do something, anything, to save them from what appears to be their imminent doom. The Lord Jesus, rising from his slumber, calms the tempest with a simple command, shocking the Apostles who, at this point in their ministry, may not have fully understood exactly who it was that they were following. </div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The second incident takes place some time afterwards. The Apostles are more spiritually mature, having had a multitude of remarkable faith-building experiences. They have served missions. They have seen the Lord heal the sick and cast out devils. They have seen him raise the daughter of Jarius from the dead. They have seen him feed the five thousand. At this point, surely, they know of his divinity, his identity. The Lord, desiring time alone to commune with his father, sent his faithful disciples by boat to the other side of the sea of Galilee, and retired to a secluded spot to pray. </div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>While the Apostles were traveling, a storm quickly arose and they again found themselves being tossed to and fro on the waves of the sea. This time, however, they were alone. They toiled heavily to keep themselves afloat, but a strong headwind rendered their sails useless, leaving only the oars as an option. As they struggled, the storm became fiercer, and their situation grew dire. They had exhausted their strength, they had made no progress, and to top it all off, the Lord was nowhere in sight. </div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Or so they thought. The Lord Jesus, while alone in prayer, was acutely aware of his disciples perilous situation. And so, between 3 and 6 in the morning, he approached the vessel, walking on the water as if it were solid ground, reassuring the frightened apostles with these words of comfort: "Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid." (Matthew <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://2">14:27</a>)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Here we see another display of the Lord's miraculous power over nature, and yet, the Apostles have a much different reaction. Rather than shocked at what they are seeing, they are relieved. Why? Because they have had enough experiences by this point to have a testimony of another one of Christ's roles, that of the Deliverer. Their fear left them as, hearing those words from across the waves, they realized that they were saved. Their Master has come. </div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>It is a matter of fact that all will face trials and adversity in this life. Indeed, that was one of the purposes for which we came to earth. Each of us knew that we would be tried and tested, and that things would not always be easy. But we also knew that we wouldn't need to do it alone. All of us knew that the great plan of happiness would be centered on a Savior, our elder brother, who would perform the Atonement and provide a way for our redemption. </div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Most people are no doubt aware and familiar with the cleansing power of the Lord's Atonement. But I wonder, perhaps, if we often overlook another aspect of his sacrifice, namely the enabling power of the Atonement. It is this power that Alma spoke of to the people of Gideon: "And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities." (Alma <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://3">7:11-12</a>)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>While the Atonement can cleanse us from our sins, something we cannot ever do ourselves, it also performs another function, taught here by Alma. I would like to highlight one part from those scriptures: "And he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities." To "succor" is to "assist and support in times of hardship and distress" (New Oxford American Dictionary). This is the enabling power of the Atonement, namely, the ability of the Lord to use the power granted to him by his sacrifice to assist us in enduring and accomplishing things that we would not be capable of on our own. It is this power that Nephi showed such great faith in when he made his oft-quoted statement in verse seven of the third chapter of first Nephi: "I will go and do the things that the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them to accomplish the thing which he commanded them" (1 Nephi 3:7). It is this enabling power of the Atonement that will ultimately deliver those who are faithful from their trials. </div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Many of us have experienced a trial so difficult that it looked like there was no end in sight. Indeed, for some trials, such as chronic illness or severe handicap, there <i>is</i> no end in sight, at least, in mortal eyes. The message of the Gospel, however, is that for all who have faith in Jesus Christ and apply his atonement, deliverance will come. It may not come in this life, but it will come. </div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>So how do we apply the atonement to our trials? Most members understand the repentance process involved in applying the cleansing power of the atonement. People who join the Church learn how to apply the first four principles and ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ and become cleansed and sanctified through the blood of the lamb. However, I feel that the key to accessing the enabling power of the atonement lies in the final principle: Enduring to the End, and all that entails. Nephi teaches us the way we do this in second Nephi chapter thirty one, verse twenty: "Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life." (2 Nephi 31:20). Here, Nephi gives us the formula for enduring to the end, which, again, I believe is the key to accessing the enabling power of the Atonement. </div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>First, we must "press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope." We are not to just suffer through our trials, white-knuckling it until they pass. Rather, we are to press forward, exercising faith in Christ. When trials come our way, we do not lose faith in Christ and cease to keep his commandments. Instead, we continue to follow him, living according to the standards that he has given us. We push forward, with a hope that, through Christ, everything will be made right. It is not enough to simply "stick it out." Instead, we must move forward and learn from our trials that which they were ordained to teach us. </div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Satan knows perfectly well the sanctifying ability that trials and what they drive us to do have on us, and therefore attempts to discourage us and cause us to quit moving forward. He would convince us that, since we don't fully understand what is happening to us, we can't be expected to continue living the commandments. He does this because, while he can hedge up the way we must go, when it comes down to it, he has only the power that we give him. Thus he tempts us to give up living the commandments, thereby binding us with his chains and preventing any sort of real progression. However, if we exercise our agency and if press forward with faith in Christ, choosing to obey his commandments, there is nothing the adversary can do to stop us. </div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Second, we are to have a love of God and of all men. Trials are opportunities for us to grow closer to God and to our brothers and sisters. I am sure that, if called upon, many of you could share experiences where a trial brought you closer to someone. This is one of the purposes of trials, and in learning to fulfill this purpose, we will be granted aid from the Almighty.</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Satan will go to any length to stop this and, as a fitting counterfeit to the Lord's option, tempts us to turn inward and blame god or man for our struggles. This is a lie intended to bring damnation to our souls. Just like walking inland won't get you any closer to the sea, turning inward won't bring us any closer to God or our fellow man. When we turn outward, asking for help and leaning on the Lord and our loved ones for support, our relationships with others grow stronger, and we are better equipped to deal with our troubles </div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Third, we must feast upon the words of Christ. By continuing to learn and grow in the gospel, both by studying the words of the prophets and attending our Sunday meetings, we open ourselves to revelation from the Lord on how to deal with our present struggles. Like Nephi was taught to build a boat, a seemingly insurmountable task, we too can be taught how to cope with our trials. </div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Satan's counterargument to this is pride. He would convince us that there is no point in seeking guidance from the Lord or his servants, for who could possibly understand what we are going through? Surely we can handle this on our own. We don't need their help. This is a lie, and we can protect ourselves from it by always remembering that, no matter what happens to us, there <i>is</i> someone who knows <i>exactly</i> what we are going through, for he experienced it himself.</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Finally, we must endure to the end. This means continuing onward, even if we fall. it means that we do not give up, even when it looks like there is no hope. Enduring to the end is a demonstration of our faith in Christ. It says "I may not see the end of this path yet, but I know who I've put my trust in, and I know that he will not let me down." </div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Satan would have us give up. He would have us quit. He tells us "It's impossible. Might as well give up now and save yourself the trouble." He preys on our shortsightedness and appeals to the natural man who would have every claim tested and every doctrine proved. He lies to us, telling us there is no end to our suffering, and that such faith is foolish. But there <i>is</i> an end. There <i>is </i>a finish line. It is the Celestial Kingdom, where those who are faithful will, through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, overcome all their trials. We cannot forget this, for the moment we take our eyes off of eternity is the moment we turn from our Heavenly Father who is waiting there for us. </div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I know that if we follow Nephi's counsel and endure to the end, we will be able to apply the enabling power of the Atonement to our lives. While we may not be delivered from our trials immediately, we <i>will</i> be delivered. We can be freed from our trials, either in this life or the next. Satan would have us believe that this isn't true, that our trials are here to stay. We need to understand that, while his power seems great, it is nothing compared to the glory of God. Where God is, satan flees. Darkness cannot be where light is. In closing, I would like to share an example of this in our modern time. I can think of no better demonstration of this principle in action than the following account:</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction."</div>
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"But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction--not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being--just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me."</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other--<i>This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!</i>"</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Brothers and sisters, I pray that when trials and hardships come our way, we will not give up. I pray that we will be able to exercise our faith in Christ and apply the enabling power of his atonement until, through the cloud and darkness of our own personal tempest, we see the approach of the Master and hear those words of deliverance: "It is I; be not afraid." In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. </div>
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Please point out any typos and anything I could do better. </div>
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Everything is going great! We have a baptism on the 20th, and another one coming soon after that. It's going to be great! I love you all!</div>
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Jordan</div>
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Kristyn Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547091448290436347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563709381337769745.post-68389497145956466412015-05-27T15:56:00.001-07:002015-05-27T15:56:23.493-07:00An Awesome Week!<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">This week has been awesome!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">We have another investigator named Adrian, and he lives with a member.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">One night, the member was supposed to come out with us to an</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">appointment that we had, but Adrian (who we hadn't even met at this</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">point) wasn't feeling good. When we asked if there was anything that</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">we could do for them, this member suggested that we come and give</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Adrian a blessing. Then he just asked Adrian while he was on the</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">phone, and he said sure. Now Adrian is investigating the church and is</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">being baptized on the 20th of June. He's super excited, and every</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">time he reads the Book of Mormon, he says that he feels a warm feeling</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">come over him, and that everything that he's ever worried about is</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">washed away. It's awesome! He's super cool. That's what happened</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">when you make simple invitations.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">We also have a few new investigators that seem super promising. One</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">is eleven years old, so it's going to be awesome. Kids are great.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Things have been good here. It's raining a lot right now, so it</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">reminds me of home. We're going to play board games today once people</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">show up, but right now i'm just emailing and playing the piano. Not</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">at the same time, of course.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">I hope everything is going well back home and that everyone is happy.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Have a great day!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Elder Jordan Morgan</span>Kristyn Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547091448290436347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563709381337769745.post-29591899878468788422015-05-18T15:04:00.001-07:002015-05-18T15:04:00.462-07:00Short and Sweet<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Hi family and friends!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Things are going well here in good old Elgin, Illinois. We have at</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">least three people that are totally going to be getting baptized</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">within the next few months, and it's going to be awesome. I'm still</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">learning sign language, and it's gotten to the point where Adrian and</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">I can give each other a hard time. It's been hilarious. Also, my old</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">companion and I would definitely use it to secretly communicate with</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">each other in meetings. It's super helpful.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Other than that, nothing new and exciting to report. Thanks to</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">everyone that's emailed!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Elder Jordan Morgan</span>Kristyn Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547091448290436347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563709381337769745.post-12028578883559381612015-04-23T21:09:00.001-07:002015-04-23T21:09:56.071-07:00I'm just now getting around to catching up Jordan's blog. The most recent post is first--<br />
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April 20, 2015<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Hey family!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">So Adrian is getting baptized on the second, which is going to be</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">awesome. And then we have another investigator, Kendra, who is going</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">to get baptized soon as well. It's going to be great!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Our mission president goes home in two months, which is sad. We're all</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">going to miss him, but it'll be alright. The next mission president is</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">called of God as well.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">I played basketball today. It was awful. I will stick to board games.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">If anybody has some really hard puzzles, I would love to try them out.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Send them to me! Through email!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Jordan</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTtchLSuL6T2goAcCOlVKUT0xOWylwdm6rCzufhcSPbVpIiG-NOrvlEp8k2q8uoJm0nXENt6SIWJndan_v1ACFaiMFTMKxtuqsOTc4DMf81YkaT_5vjY2qoFk1WQjouOrHi6zhsgXPSPk/s1600/Jordan--baptism.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTtchLSuL6T2goAcCOlVKUT0xOWylwdm6rCzufhcSPbVpIiG-NOrvlEp8k2q8uoJm0nXENt6SIWJndan_v1ACFaiMFTMKxtuqsOTc4DMf81YkaT_5vjY2qoFk1WQjouOrHi6zhsgXPSPk/s1600/Jordan--baptism.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">April 13, 2015</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Hi family!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">When we Skype, i'm going to have to show you my mad sign language</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">skills that I've developed in order to communicate with our</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">investigator who is deaf. I'm not very good, but I'm getting there.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">It's been super cool.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Yeah, so you might have heard about the tornadoes. We get tornadoes</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">here. They don't usually kill people, they just ruin everyone's day.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">One of my friends area's is pretty much gone. We didn't get anything</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">here but a bunch of hail and rain and thunder and lighting, though.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">We had two people come to church! It was super cool. One of them was</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">a referral for the Hermanas. He can speak pretty good english, but he</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">said he would be more comfortable in the spanish branch. He's super</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">cool and we're super excited for him. And then our deaf investigator</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">came.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Other than that, there hasn't really been anything out of the</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">ordinary. Just serving the Lord. It's been great. OH, we did get to</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">teach the restoration to new people twice this week. They were both</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">member referrals, and as such, they are both awesome and solid. It</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">was great. And we got to teach one of the lessons in the members</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">home, which made a huge difference. She's going to get baptized. I</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">mean, she knows God is real and loves her personally because of an</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">experience she had when she was twelve IN THE WOODS. Sound familiar?</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">It's going to be great.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Everything is awesome. Make sure to help the missionaries in the</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">ward. Isn't it exhilarating to know that they are there because the</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Lord wants them to be there? They are trusted by the Lord to be in</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">our ward, and it's super cool.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Jordan</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">April 7, 2015</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">10 points to everyone that figured out that p day was moved to today.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Sorry about that, I totally forgot to tell anyone. Although I did</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">remember to remind everybody else to tell all their families. It was</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">pretty great.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">So conference was great, of course. President Uchtdorf's talk about</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">humility and not seeking for the honors of man was awesome. I'm going</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">to read it every single day.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">We had something yesterday called the sacred grove experience. The</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">whole mission went to a park and president talked about the First</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Vision, and then a bunch of people bore their testimony. It was</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">awesome.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">This week was a little slow, but things are picking up. It was mostly</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">slow because of conference. That was a good chunk of our week. And</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">then we spent all this time getting the ASL translation up for our</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">deaf investigator, and he ended up having to work. Lame! But not his</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">fault, so whatever.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">I hope everything's going alright! Have a good week!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Jordan</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">March 30, 2015</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Does anyone remember what the subject line is from? I hope so.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">So this week has been pretty much the best ever.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">On Monday I got Minecraft sheet music, courtesy of Mom. Awesome.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Then later this week we had exchanges, and I went with my awesome</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">district leader, who is the only person I've ever met to have heard of</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Scott Pilgrim, Flight of the Conchords, and Homestar Runner. And then</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">elder Jackson and I found out that we are not being transferred, which</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">was awesome. And then our deaf investigator came to church and loved</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">it again. And then we saw our other investigator last night and were</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">able to put him on date and teach a very impromptu law of chastity</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">lesson, since he is living with his girlfriend, who is an inactive</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">member. Our poor member, he had no idea we were going to be teaching</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">that. WE had no idea, we just realized that if we were going to put</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">him on date, we needed to have that conversation. But he did a good</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">job. And then we found out that we're going to be getting a car full</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">time! And that they aren't closing the sisters area, so we don't have</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">to worry about that. It's just been awesome. Super awesome.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Our church is the only true Church of Christ in the earth and the only</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">church that can get us to the celestial kingdom. Also, make sure to</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">defend Joseph Smith. He's a prophet of the Lord, exactly like Noah or</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Moses.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Elder Jordan Morgan</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><br /></span>Kristyn Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547091448290436347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563709381337769745.post-86837113949678709142015-03-11T12:02:00.001-07:002015-03-11T12:02:11.333-07:00"To Answer Your Questions..."<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">How things are going: Really good! I'm having a really good time. I'll</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">be sad when I have to come home. But also not, because you guys are</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">there! And because I want to move on with my life. And see that new</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Tomorrowland movie. My mission has been awesome. Obviously not every</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">part had been everything sunny all the time always, but as a whole</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">it's been wonderful.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">My new area: Much more ghetto than my last one. Which is a good thing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">It's been great.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">My new companion: Elder Jackson. He's super awesome. Chill, but a good</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">worker, which is a good combination. He also had a good sense of</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">humor. I showed him how to solve a rubies cube. He also really likes</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">puzzles. Speaking of which, are the clues for big Bertha and little</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Bertha up yet?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Is it getting warmer: YEEEEEEEESSSSSSS. Finally! It was 52° yesterday!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">It was amazing. I don't even need to see Frozen anymore, because I've</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">already lived it. Winter went on forever. It was below zero almost</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">every night, and in the single digits most days.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"> Missionaries </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">dating? I think that's funny. My mission president actively encourages</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">the missionaries from his mission to get married to each other. That</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">way he only has to go to half as many weddings.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">And if dad doesn't want me dating a sister from here, then he needs to</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">pray that I don't become an AP. Seriously, they are ALL getting</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">married to the sister training leaders. It's been a little ridiculous.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Jordan</span><br />
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"They needed a King Benjamin. My companion volunteered me..."</div>
Kristyn Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547091448290436347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563709381337769745.post-78940360409755968222015-02-19T11:24:00.002-08:002015-02-19T11:24:26.048-08:00Transfers!<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Hello again family!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">So the big news is that I'm being transferred! I'm leaving St.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Charles. We're both leaving, actually. They are taking out the</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">elders and putting another set of sisters in! which is a little weird</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">and it doesn't happen that often, but it is solving more than one</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">problem, which just goes to show that President Fenn is inspired.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Anyway, since we were being transferred and yesterday was our last</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">full day of proselyting, we had asked the Lord to make it the best day</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">that we had ever had in the St. Charles west area, and our prayers</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">were answered. We got to see a lot of good people, and the night</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">ended with a pretty short notice lesson with two of our investigators.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Their names are James and Barbara, and they are members. James came</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">to church last week and had a great time and totally felt the Spirit,</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">and at this meeting he told us that he wanted to move forward with</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">this and that God had been answering his prayers. So now he's on</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">date! For March 7th! And since my new area is literally right next</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">to this one, I'll probably get to go! It's going to be great. And</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">now Barbara wants to get baptized! She has told us that she hasn't</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">felt like she's gotten an answer yet, so we told her that we want to</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">wait till that happens. Contrary to popular belief, the mormons don't</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">just throw anyone into the font. They need to be doing it for the</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">right reasons. So that was awesome!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Yeah, so my new area is the Elgin 1st ward, which is literally the</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">area directly above my current one. But it's a shared area with a set</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">of sisters, and we're in the northern part. Which has a mall!!! I'm</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">super excited. I love the mall. On preparation days only, of course.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Even though it's an Elgin ward, it's mostly in a city called</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Carpentersville. I've heard several different things about it. Also,</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">my companion sounds super cool, and he was half trained by Elder</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Rowley, who was in the MTC with me and is super awesome.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">So I am sending a package in the mail today that is full of a ton of</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">stuff that I really like and want, but I just plain don't have room</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">for anymore. If you could put it somewhere safe, that would be great.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Thanks!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Other than what I've said, there isn't a whole lot of news. There has</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">been a drastic change in the area in the past transfer and it has been</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">awesome. Weeks like this are what make me sad that my mission is</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">going to end.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">It's great to hear about everyones missionary efforts back home!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Missionary work cannot succeed if only the missionaries are doing it.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">The members really need to be doing the brunt of the work. So thanks</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">for helping! And do we have sisters or elders in our ward back home?</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Everything has been great! And I'll have preparation day on Monday</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">again! It's going to be a Pdaypalooza!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Elder Morgan</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" />Kristyn Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547091448290436347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563709381337769745.post-28795718369313816942015-02-02T15:57:00.000-08:002015-02-02T15:57:03.486-08:00Snowmageddon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Hi family!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">So this week has been super awesome, we found a new investigator! His</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">name is Tim and he has a super strong faith in Christ, which is why he</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">invited us in. We taught the restoration (because the restoration is</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">awesome) and he was super eager to read the Book of Mormon. He really</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">liked what we were teaching, and he's also on of a job, so we got him</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">in touch with LDS employment services, so it's going to be awesome. We</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">also met a ton of people that were willing to have us back.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">So that's too bad about the super bowl. Lol jk I don't care about</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">sports. I know enough about it to make fun of it, which drives my</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">companion crazy. It's super funny.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Don't worry, we totally get along. He is total white bread, though.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">But we have a ton of fun. Every time we knock on a door and a he dog</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">ounces on it, we make jokes about Cujo, which incidentally, I totally</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">did not think he would get that reference. Good on him.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">So we just survived the legitimate SNOWMAGEDDON. I will send pictures.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Needless to say, the first thing I did his morning for p day was</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">shovel miles upon miles of snow. Seriously. We had snow for days.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">So that's super messed up about what's going down at evergreen. Yeah,</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">being a facebook missionary, we aren't in a bubble. Like, at all. I</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">know all about the ice bucket challenge and Ebola and deflate gate and</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">gamer gate. So yeah, that was going around. The important thing to</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">remember is that even though she has sinned, and what she did is</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">definitely wrong both in sight of the law and the Lord, she is our</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">sister and can be forgiven if she repents. We also need to remember</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">that the Savior didn't just suffer for our sins, he suffered for all</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">of our pains and afflictions. He can help all those affected by this</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">incident. He doesn't turn anyone away, and the Atonement can bring</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">peace to all those who's hearts may be failing them right now.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">So we're going to the church right now for fun times. I hope everyone</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">has a great day today!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Love,</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Elder Jordan Morgan</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" />Kristyn Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547091448290436347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563709381337769745.post-78130320775157206172015-01-12T14:25:00.001-08:002015-01-12T14:25:26.458-08:00It's a little bit cold...<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">So this week has been a bit better. We found another new</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">investigator! He is the coach of some of the young women in our ward,</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">and he was super impressed that they wouldn't play on sundays. See,</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">this is why it's so important to be good examples! People notice</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">those sorts of things! Even if they don't agree with your principles</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">entirely, people still respect someone that lives a principled life.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">I think it's because they know deep down that they should be following</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">the Gospel as well.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">I have a new companion! He is from Murray, Utah. And he's super</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">white. And super mormon. But he's also super nice and not judgmental</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">at all.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdymCOvyJaZI7BYAJRjB_jl1OA9AgoGPUvwj1sHF1v4Qzzeo-d87rNyafVIglKTwZSL5oATcEb1fnz5UrmHLccyBG05ulrt2KjYvUT0qTwXRAzyqmPnkaF6-ADYv8WP7mXriwFA0rOSqI/s1600/IMG_0408.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdymCOvyJaZI7BYAJRjB_jl1OA9AgoGPUvwj1sHF1v4Qzzeo-d87rNyafVIglKTwZSL5oATcEb1fnz5UrmHLccyBG05ulrt2KjYvUT0qTwXRAzyqmPnkaF6-ADYv8WP7mXriwFA0rOSqI/s1600/IMG_0408.PNG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
He's only<br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">been out for three months, so I'm still showing him a lot of stuff.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">He works hard and is REALLY REALLY NICE. LIKE, THE NICEST. I only</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">emphasize this because I have had too much experience with elders</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">(never sisters) in my mission who are not super nice. Just be nice to</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">people, ok?</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Church has been awesome. I finally got the games! Thanks for that!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">We are going to hang out with some church service missionaries today</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">and play them with them. They are called the Thompsons, and they are</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">super awesome. They're the ones that check our apartment.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">We are also working with a less active member that wants to get the</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Melchizedek priesthood and his patriarchal blessing! That's awesome!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Also, we were with a young couple in our ward last night, and they</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">randomly slipped $25 dollars into a thing of food that they gave us.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">We went back to make sure it wasn't a Technicolor Dreamcoat type test</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">of character, but they meant to do it. So it looks like we're going</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">to Giordano's for lunch at some point! Awesome! Also, this couple had</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">been thinking of moving to Vancouver, and I've pretty much got them</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">convinced.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">So speaking of that, I've reached that sad point of living in Illinois</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">long enough that 20 degrees is now "Warm." I will send a picture of</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">the weather report for a couple of days ago.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Other than that, I haven't had a whole lot more happen this week. It's</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">been super fun! I hope everyone else's week has been awesome!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Love,</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Jordan</span>Kristyn Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547091448290436347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563709381337769745.post-17569753586728743162014-12-22T15:23:00.002-08:002014-12-22T15:23:24.148-08:00Happy Leif Erickson Day<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Actually, it's not. It's on October 9th. Yep. It's totally a real</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">holiday. Prepare to celebrate.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Hi everyone!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">This week went by really, really fast. Probably because we've been</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">super busy. We have an investigator! She investigated a couple of</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">years ago, but quit because she thought that we were the FLDS church</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">and that Thomas S. Monson was Charles Manson. So yeah, that happened.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">She missed her last appointment, but is seriously considering getting</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">baptized.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">We had our Christmas fireside a the mission home! Santa came! And</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">gave us presents! Well, the ones our families had sent. But still!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">And then we got to hear President Fenn talk about the Christmas story.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Everyone needs to fix their nativity scenes, because they aren't</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">doctrinally correct. It's way too nice looking. The real stable was</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">more like a cave, and it was disgusting, which symbolizes the Savior's</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">condescension. Then we talked about the duality of Christ. And how</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">there were like, 20 or 30 wise men. Well, we don't really KNOW that,</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">but he figured that if you were going to see the Messiah, you wouldn't</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">just go alone. You'd take your family and friends and everything.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">And that they didn't even show up until Jesus was a little older,</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">like, two or three, and by that point they are in a house. So yeah,</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">it was super awesome.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">We've had a lot of cool experiences finding by the Spirit. It's</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">awesome to know that you are doing something that the Lord has</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">literally asked you to do. It's been great.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">I was burned by Five Guys this week. I swear on my life I will never</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">eat at that place again. A member took us there, and the things it</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">did to our bodies... I won't go into it. Needless to say, I am glad</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">we have a washer and dryer in our apartment.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">To answer a question, yes, I can read emails during the week. I can't</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">respond till Monday, and that includes writing letters. So yeah, fun</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">fact for the day.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">So story of the week: I did what is probably the most dangerous thing</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">I have ever done before on Tuesday. By accident, of course. So a</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">member asked us to help him clean out his barn. As we were there, the</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">conversation somehow turned to fireworks. That reminded him that he</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">had a room in the upper level of the barn COMPLETELY FULL OF</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">FIREWORKS. Ten year old fireworks. From China. That he had modified</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">by hand. And he wanted them all downstairs. We had prayed beforehand</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">and my companion and I were like, "Well, we'll just need to be</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">careful. I mean, it's not like they're just going to go off on their</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">own, right?" So we carried all the cardboard boxes full of fireworks</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">downstairs. Soon there was just a wooden crate left, which was</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">labeled "Caution: Highly Explosive." We asked the member, and he was</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">like "Oh, that's where I keep all of my black powder. Whenever I</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">break a firework, I just pour the black powder into a ziplock baggie</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">and throw it in there." Those may have been the most horrifying words</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">I had ever heard another human being speak. My companion and I went</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">upstairs, but neither of us would touch the thing. We decided to open</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">the crate and see exactly what was inside, just to be safe. But then</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">we were convinced that even opening the thing would result in an</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">explosion, the likes of which would rival Krakatoa. Finally, I pried</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">the box open and... Empty. Completely empty. We carried the box</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">downstairs and when the member asked us what took so long, we told him</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">we were worried about the black powder. He was like "Oh, THAT'S the</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">box you were talking about?" He pointed to another box, one I had</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">carried down the stairs by myself. "It's THAT one." My companion</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">lifted the lid off of it, and it was FULL of black powder in little</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">baggies. So yeah, I pretty much almost died. The Lord answered our</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">prayers, though, and I have lived to tell the tale. So yeah, that was</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">exciting.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Other than that, things have been good. I'm super excited to be out</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">here. I have less than a year left, and it's super sad. It's going</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">by really fast. And this morning, I realized that this January would</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">be my last as a missionary, and I kind of freaked out. How? How did</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">this happen? I don't know. But yeah, I'm trying to make the most of</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">it, and do everything the Lord has asked me to do. I know that if we</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">let Him guide us, He will make more of us than we could ever make of</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">ourselves.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Elder Jordan Morgan</span>Kristyn Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547091448290436347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563709381337769745.post-37853810810020961182014-12-09T08:47:00.003-08:002014-12-09T08:47:43.572-08:00"The Giver"<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Does anyone get the subject line?</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">So you guys saw the Giver? How was it? Did they keep the super</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">christian themes in it, or did they water it down?</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">The book is super christian. I mean, they got rid of all opposition,</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">which makes everyone neither happy nor sad, which is straight out of 2</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Nephi 2:11. And the thing I liked about the book was that it really</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">looked like their world was perfect, but then as Jonas slowly learns</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">the truth about things, he realizes that things are awful. Like</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Plato's cave! And then the community chooses one person to bear all</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">the sufferings of everyone in the world? The Giver is a Christ</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">figure! And Jonas is only a letter away from Jonah, the prophet who</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">fled his calling! Like Jonas does! Well, Jonas was doing it for a</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">good reason, but still! Christianity is all over that book, yet I</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">wouldn't be surprised if they toned it down for the movie. Whatever.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">I'll have to see it when I get home.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Thanks to everyone that emailed me! That was awesome. I love getting</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">emails from people in the family. Make sure you write Carter too.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">That is insane about Devin and Jordan coming home. I couldn't believe</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">it, but then I thought about it and was like "Well, it is December."</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">That's pretty crazy.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Speaking of coming home, my mission president is working it out with</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">the mission department to set my release date for December 9th, 2015.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">He thinks that that is when I should be able to go home, and so do I.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">We both feel good about it. He doesn't foresee there being a problem</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">(It's a little different for me, since they apparently didn't take</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">into account my time already served when they set my release date),</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">but maybe I'll get to talk to an apostle! It's a long shot, but</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">still, that would be awesome!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Things have been going good in the area. We are meeting with a TON of</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">members to help them create their own family mission plans, rather</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">than doing what some missionaries do and try to guilt them into doing</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">missionary work. It works a ton better when people set goals</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">themselves, rather than go with the goals that other people want to</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">set for them. And this way, when we leave the area, the work doesn't</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">leave with us, it stays with the ward.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">I told Davis this, but it totally pays off to stick with the piano,</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">because then you get to do awesome things on your mission like playing</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Let It Go at the ward Christmas party. It was pretty awesome.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Someone commented on one of Mom's statuses on Facebook, asking if I</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">know the Joss'. I totes do. He's our first counselor, and he's</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">awesome. The whole family is. I guess they lived in the Cascade Park</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">ward for like, eight years. They know the Gages!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Other than that, not a whole lot to report this week. Thanks for the</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Advent calender! It's awesome. Except now the first thing I eat every</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">morning is candy. Which isn't really an odd thing for me, actually.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">I love candy.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Love,</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Jordan</span>Kristyn Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547091448290436347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563709381337769745.post-52338546731425772222014-12-02T18:48:00.001-08:002014-12-02T18:48:07.935-08:00The Swanky Part of Town<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Hello again family!</span></div>
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Things are awesome here in St. Charles. We have one of the worst</div>
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apartments in the mission, but this is America, so it's still pretty</div>
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nice. Fun facts about it:</div>
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-The person living below us controls our heat.</div>
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-The light switches to the bathroom are in the hall and the light</div>
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switches to the hall are in the hall closet.</div>
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-The front door doesn't open from the inside, so we have to pry it</div>
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open with a butter knife.</div>
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It's pretty nice besides that. The members in this area are crazy</div>
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rich, and one of them bought Temperpedic mattress pads for our beds,</div>
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so that was awesome. They're the best beds in the whole mission.</div>
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Other ridiculous things that have happened since I got here:</div>
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-I was fed a $40 steak.</div>
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-We were "official" fancy cheese testers, since that sort of thing</div>
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just happens all the time here.</div>
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-We were fed Thanksgiving twice.</div>
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It's kind of ridiculous, but the members are all super nice and</div>
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awesome. We're trying to spend as much time with them as we can,</div>
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since missionary work is best done through the members. It's</div>
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difficult (WAY harder than tracting.), but the results are tons</div>
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better.</div>
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THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR FIGURING OUT BYU FOR ME!!!</div>
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I'm super excited, and yes, less worried. It's going to be great.</div>
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I'm going to try to figure out today when to go home. I've been</div>
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thinking about it for a while, even though I thought I wouldn't need</div>
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to figure it out for a long time, but now it's come right up, and I'm</div>
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glad I've already put some thought into it. There's been a lot of</div>
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prayer involved, studying it out, and talking to my mission president.</div>
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I'm going to make some calls today and then I'll let you know.</div>
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We have two investigators, and they're pretty cool. We have a lesson</div>
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with one of them tomorrow, and he sounded excited, so that's going to</div>
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be great.</div>
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Thanks for the advent calender! It's going to be awesome. I really</div>
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like it a lot.</div>
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We got paid today, so we're going to Giordano's. It's a deep dish</div>
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place, and it's not too expensive, and it's delicious. I feel bad for</div>
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everyone that has not experienced it. It's the best deep dish I've</div>
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found out here (yes, there really is deep dish pizza EVERYWHERE. It's</div>
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the greatest thing in the world. At first I was like, "What's the big</div>
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deal? It's just thick pizza." I was wrong. So wrong. So many years</div>
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wasted!)</div>
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I am doing good. Things are well. I am co-senior companion right</div>
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now, but it doesn't mean much. No one is really in charge in a</div>
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companionship. It's good preparation for marriage. If the Ensign has</div>
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taught me anything, it's that neither spouse is in charge. They make</div>
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decisions together. We do kind of have a problem with unrighteous</div>
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dominion in our mission, but it's just a few elders.</div>
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I hope everyone is having fun! And Christmas is coming crazy fast!</div>
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It seems like mothers day was just last week! It's insane.</div>
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Have a good week!</div>
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Jordan</div>
</span>Kristyn Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547091448290436347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563709381337769745.post-62735828199218254822014-11-24T15:45:00.001-08:002014-11-24T15:45:41.174-08:00Catching UP!So...I'm a little behind on blog updates so here's a few:<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Hi family!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">So about stories of the people we're teaching: I would love to send</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">them, but we currently have no investigators. They all left the state</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">the transfer i got here. So we pretty much spend our tome contacting</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">referrals and meeting with members. We did meet an awesome man from</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">india the other day, named Venka. He's super cool, but doesn't want to</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">change religions, but also loves the discipline our church has. He's</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">awesome.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">I guess i can talk about the ones from Plainfield. We had Kasie and</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Kelsie, two twins who lived together with their kids. They were super</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">awesome, and are close to coming into e church, but they have a little</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">bit more to go. They introduced us to their friend Katrina, who wants</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">to be baptized, but her husband won't let her. She's super awesome</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">too.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Then we had the Lilly's, who are 80 years old, black, and awesome.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">They have a grandson who played for the pacers, but he's since been</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">traded to the celtics, i think.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Then we had Sam and Sandy, who are 93 and 73, respectively. Sam is one</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">of the two people who invented the board game Operation. He also</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">played guitar on the radio back in the 20's, and had a friend who</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">played the piano in a mob joint.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Then we had Jon, who was baptized. He was the non member husband of</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">an active member, and claimed to be atheist.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Then we had Kathleen, who was a less active member who has a son on a</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">mission. She and i got along really well, and her daughter Brianna,</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">whose thirteen, is awesome and loves doctor who.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">There was brother Torres, a less active member who did not feel at</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">home in our ward, so the bishop of his old ward sent us to reactivate</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">him. He ended up going to Nauvoo with our ward mission leader, and now</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">is a ward missionary and is super strong.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">There is Subhash, who moved here from india ten years ago, was</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">homeless, and was living with a friend when the sisters knocked on his</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">door. He converted, and his family has disowned him, but he now has a</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">great job snd a nice house, and married an lds woman from Germany that</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">he met online.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Plainfield was awesome. I really want to visit it after my mission.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">My mission is super fun, and everyone should serve one, if they are</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">able. I hope everything is going well back home!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Also, we went to the temple today, and it was awesome! Everyone should</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">go there, if they are able.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Love,</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Jordan</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Hello family!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">There is nothing much new to report. There should be some packages</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">coming to the house soon. One of them, the bigger one, is full of fun</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">stuffs for the family. The smaller one is my stuff. Please put it</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">somewhere safe.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">There is a member in he ward that is helping me with an awesome</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">project that I am working on. We're still in the planning and prepping</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">phases, so I'll let you know how things are going as it develops.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">I get to speak in church this Sunday! It's on faith, so I'm kind of</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">nervous, because that's a big topic. And I'm speaking on high council</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Sunday, so that will be interesting.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">We still have no new investigators, but we do have lots of awesome</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">ward members who are trying to help with that. People are going to</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">show up, I just know it.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">We're also planning on talking to our president to see if we can go</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">downtown for a pday. He's a pretty reasonable man, so we'll see.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">I hope everything is going fine back home. I pick up on things now and</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">again on Facebook, so that's been cool.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Have a great day!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Elder Jordan Morgan</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Do you get the subject line? Tell Parker I want to play that game with</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">him when it home, because I keep seeing pictures of it when we do</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">online proselyting, and it looks AWESOME.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Two exciting things happened this week: I got to speak in sacrament</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">meeting! That wasn't so exciting as it was terrifying. I don't know</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">why, I'm a missionary, all I do is talk to people. But for some reason</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">whenever I get up to speak in front of a crowd, I get really nervous.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Maybe it's because they're all facing a different direction than I am.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">I feel outnumbered.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">I got to speak on faith, which was awesome. I'm only now starting to</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">get faith, and it's been super awesome. I talked about how it's a</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">principle of action, because true faith always motivates someone to</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">some sort of action. It was a lot of fun.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Then we finally got a ward mission leader! We hadn't had one the</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">entire time, so that was a nice surprise. His name is brother Abromov,</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">and he's from Soviet Russia. Like, he grew up in the Soviet Union. How</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">intense is that? He's super cool, and his wife is a recent convert.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Her name is Lybov (Pronounced Luba.) She's super nice, and loves</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">having us over for dinner.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">So we're at the mall right now, and it's been awesome. Have I ever</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">mentioned that we have, like, the largest mall in the United States in</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">our area? It's called the Woodfield mall, and it's gigantic. There's</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">pretty much every store you could ever ask for in here, including an</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">AWESOME anime store.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">So this week has involved lots of experiences with heeding the</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">direction of the Spirit and finding people to teach. Sometimes</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">missionaries (and members, frankly) fall into the trap of thinking</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">that busy=productive. This isn't necessarily true. For instance, I</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">could decide to walk to our appointment clear out in Barrington. It</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">would take about six hours, so we would be perfectly busy the whole</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">time, but would we be productive? Hardly. I had an experience with</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">this while I was on exchanges with an elder that is very much like,</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">"gogogoallthetimehurry!" Which I don't really like. Instead, I was</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">sitting there trying to heed the spirit in which person we should go</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">visit. He just wanted me to pick someone and get moving because he</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">thought we were wasting time, and I thought that it was a pretty sad</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">thing if you call trying to listen to the Spirit "wasting time." But</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">finally a name felt good to me, and we drove clear out to visit it,</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">and we found a man that's interested in coming to church! And he's</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Russian, and speaks little English, but we just got a new ward mission</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">leader that speaks fluent Russian! How about that. Things have never</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">worked out so well as I have seen them work out on my mission. It's</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">been great.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">So keep reading the scriptures and doing good things, and being nice</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">to people. Especially being nice to people. I've spent a lot of time</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">wishing I had been nicer to people in high school, so just do it,</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">alright? It makes everything better.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Jordan</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">First things first: When on earth did we get a fire pit? And the deck</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">expanded? Nobody tells me anything! I just saw it on the Facebook!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">This week has been really, really cold. It finally started snowing,</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">which back home is like "Yay!" But here it's like "It begins..."</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">We're supposed to have a really bad winter this year, but we'll see.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">It is so cold. Like, crazy cold. It's the humidity. It gets you</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">both ways. You feel like you're melting in the summer, and then in</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">the winter it manages to permeate every single part of you're</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">clothing. It's currently twenty degrees out right now, but with the</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">wind chill it feels more like -20. Tis truly the windy city.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">So Davis wants a fox that wears a top hat and takes people shoes?</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">That sounds awesome. We actually saw a fox running across the street</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">a couple days ago, and it was awesome. And it reminded me of my</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">perfect pet! I want a falcon that is trained both to deliver messages</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">to my friends and family, and also it stays within hearing range of me</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">all the time, so at any moment outside I can just whistle, and it</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">swoops down and perches on my arm. I'd be like a pokemon master. It</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">would be fantastic.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">I'm sending a picture of a plate that one of the members in the ward</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">gave me. You'll understand when you see it. It's pretty awesome.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">I have no idea what everyone is so busy with in the states. It's</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">like, we ask them to read the Book of Mormon, and then a week later</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">they were like "Oh, I was too busy, and didn't get a chance." Really?</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">There are 168 hours in the week, and 10,080 minutes in those hours,</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">and you were busy during every single one of them? I would almost</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">rather people just say that they didn't want to read it, because THEN</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">we can maybe help with the real problem.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">I'm excited for Christmas to. It's next transfer! That's pretty</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">crazy. Time is going by too fast out here. Like, it's already pday</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">today. That's insane. And transfer calls are this saturday, which is</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">also insane. They are going by too fast. And I hate transfer calls.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">The suspense is almost too much.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">A mission is awesome, and I wouldn't trade the things that I have</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">learned out here for anything. Please keep writing!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Jordan</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">I'm being transferred!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">That went by really fast. True, I was only in this area for half as</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">long as I was in my first area, but still! Three months! Like</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">nothing!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">It'll be sad saying goodbye to my companion for a spell, but I'll see</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">him again. Apparenty my next companion is super cool</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">I'm going to an area called St. Charles. It's supposed to be pretty</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">wealthy, so it'll be an adventure.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">So this transfer is the Christmas transfer! It's going to be awesome</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">to get to talk to everyone!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Is it snowing over there? Because it was rainging earlier, and it</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">just turned to snow. You know how you would watch the sequel to</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Frosty the Snowman and all the adults were like "Snow is awful, we</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">must get rid of it!" And you were like "Those jerks! They hate fun!"</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Well, now I kind of sympathize with them. The snow wouldn't be too</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">bad if it wasn't SO DANG COLD!!! It was ten degrees all last week,</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">with the wind chill! It's awful. But my companion is being</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">transferred up to Beloit, Wisconsin, so I shouldn't be complaining.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">At least I'm heading southwest.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">People should email! I like hearing from people! And to everyone who</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">does email, thank you so much! Have a great day!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Elder Jordan Morgan</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><br /></span>Kristyn Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547091448290436347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563709381337769745.post-4971169733667981892014-10-22T09:47:00.000-07:002014-10-22T10:01:56.029-07:00Greetings from Illinois<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ACvdDQDKmNuA4oGz9oNUoOoqb9qkTDQHKWCkW5ot8ldYhOWRLwyr1F-IBejS8kILeWro-Z1FSM43944e16nDE2S_uK74FGANxjLneSMErLmBgt6iGJ0SDOBXV4K7eKtdwU-bcwgPrkc/s1600/Creepy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ACvdDQDKmNuA4oGz9oNUoOoqb9qkTDQHKWCkW5ot8ldYhOWRLwyr1F-IBejS8kILeWro-Z1FSM43944e16nDE2S_uK74FGANxjLneSMErLmBgt6iGJ0SDOBXV4K7eKtdwU-bcwgPrkc/s1600/Creepy.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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(This is what Jordan made to scare his companion--poor companion…Also, I'm too lazy at the moment to figure out how to turn it so good luck…)</div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Hi family!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">To answer Mom's question, I'm in the Arlington Heights 1st ward, but</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">we live in Palatine. You should look it up! If you got my videos,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">you'll be able to see the glory of Illinois.</span><br />
<br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Things have been going great out here! We don't have any</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">investigators, but we have been getting s lot of referrals! That's</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">been awesome. Also, it's awesome to hear about mrs. Baxter! Thanks for</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">helping the missionaries out so much, thats fantastic.</span><br />
<br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">We are in a car share now, which means that we only get the car every</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">other week. So it takes us forever to get to places, but i also walked</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">28.5 miles last week, which is great because i want to lose ten</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">pounds. My face is starting to change shape, and i don't like it.</span><br />
<br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Oh, so i heard the greatest joke a little bit ago:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">What's a pirates favorite letter? You'd think it'd be R, but it's</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">actually the C.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">People fall for it every time. It's fantastic.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Other than the car share, and scaring the corn out of my companion,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">there hasn't been a ton of interesting things that have happened.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Apparently the Piano Guys came to our ward last year, which is pretty</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">crazy. I didn't know they were members, but it makes sense.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">I hope everything is going well back home! Keep reading and studying</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">the scriptures, and have fun in the Gospel! Also, let McKay know that</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">the two pieces of advice that i give to every missionary are:</span><br />
<br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">1. The Lord loves a working man.</span><br />
<br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">2. Don't trust whitey.</span><br />
<br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">It's awesome.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Jordan</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><br /></span>Kristyn Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547091448290436347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563709381337769745.post-58249275032815128502014-10-07T22:46:00.004-07:002014-10-07T22:46:57.434-07:00Does Anybody Know Candle Grove?<span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Hello again family!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">First things first: Is Carter going to Brazil? I thought I saw</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">something about that on Facebook, and if so, that's awesome! He'll do</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">great. If not, then it's the Lord's will. He will send Carter where He</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">needs him to be. The Lord doesn't let His will be stopped by a couple</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">of bureaucrats from Brazil.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">How has everyone in the family been doing? I'm super excited to hear</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">about people possibly getting baptized! And about you helping the</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">sister missionaries out! That's awesome. Blessings come from helping</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">the missionaries, because they are there to represent the Lord.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Speaking of that, I loved conference this weekend! If I had to guess</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">what the overarching theme of this conference was, it would have to be</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">"Quit apostatizing." I had never made the connection that when the</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">apostles and the first presidency speak, it is really the Lord</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">speaking. So when you don't listen to them, it is the same as not</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">listening to Christ. That's why it makes me sad when I see members</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">that advocate things that the Lord has told us is wrong. Like same sex</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">marriage. That's the big one right now. Do people think that the</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">prophets are wrong? If so, they must either think that Christ is</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">wrong, or that the prophets do not speak for Him. Honestly, if a</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">member thinks that the Church is wrong about same sex marriage, then</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">they do not understand what a prophet is.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Sorry if that sounded harsh, but it's true. I just got done reading</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">the Book of Mormon, and it's kind of scary how many parallels there</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">are in it to our day. Like, all the parallels. How can nobody else see</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">it! We're heading for the same end as the Nephites and Lamanites! I</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">don't know. I'm just trying to do the best I can.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">I'm sorry if this email sounds like I'm calling people to repentance.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">That's not what I'm trying. It's not my job, because there are</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">missionaries in Vancouver who are assigned to do that! Our mission</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">president tells us all the time that one of our biggest jobs is to</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">call people to repentance. Lots of people don't do it, myself</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">included, because we're afraid of offending people. But I'm slowly</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">getting over it. Everyone has to repent, so it's not that big of a</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">deal to tell people. I loved one of the quotes from this conference:</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">"Scorn is guilt trying to reassure itself." It's super true.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Speaking of super true, the church is super true, and we truly have</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">prophets leading it today. I got that spiritual confirmation this</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">weekend. It's awesome to have prophets again to lead us and warn us of</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">the dangers that face us, and it's humbling that the Lord would still</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">send prophets even after all the chances He's given us already. If you</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">don't know that it's true, pray about it and study the scriptures.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Love,</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Elder Jordan Morgan</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Jordan's Mom here: I received this FB message from the Mom of Jordan's companion. Apparently they get along great and all sorts of hilarity ensues--but Jordan likes to scare the pants off of poor Elder Judd. Heaven help him when "the elf on the shelf" comes around...</span><br />
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<br />Kristyn Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547091448290436347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563709381337769745.post-81783008172379455012014-09-15T15:00:00.000-07:002014-09-15T15:00:06.788-07:00Wolverine!<div style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
Hello family!</div>
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Sorry about last week, we were having all sorts of computer troubles. Things have been pretty crazy this transfer so far. I will attempt to explain:</div>
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So apparently there's some supervirus going around the midwest right now, and when I got here, my companion had it. So we were stuck in the apartment for a week, and didn't really get much done. We call it the VOID: Volcaninc Outburst of Impromptu Diarrhea. It's pretty awful. Anyway, we were all worried that I was going to get it, you know, because of the whole "Stay with your companion at all times" thing, but I was like "No, it'll be fine. I'm Wolverine, I never get sick and I heal super quickly." But then I totally got sick. I got over it in a day, because like I said, I'm Wolverine. The whole family is, frankly. We never get sick. It's pretty crazy. </div>
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So my new companion is super awesome, and we totally get along. It's been awesome. We also have an aweomse mall in my new area. It's the second largest in the United States. And you can see the skyline from where we live, including the Sears Tower! Or the willis tower, whatever it is now. So that's pretty awesome. That thing is huge. </div>
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I loved the package that you guys sent, especially the quotes! It was awesome. I love things like that. I've already decided that my last words are going to be "Rosebud." It's going to be great. </div>
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So how is everything going at home? Mom said that you sent a package, so I should be getting that this wednesday. We have a zone conference then, and that's when we get all our packages. It's going to be awesome. </div>
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So I just realized a couple of days ago that in a little less than three months, i will only have a year left on my mission. What? That's insane. I sort of freaked out. I was like "Where did all the time go? Oh that's right, Plainfield ATE IT." Not that I don't like Plainfield. I like it a lot, and I want to visit it after my mission. It just sort of took me by surprise. </div>
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Speaking of that, when you're with the same person 24 hours a day, you get the opportunity to talk about EVERYTHING. This leads to what my companion calls my "stoner moments," since i'm from Washington and we've gone ahead and legalized that herb. Here are a couple of mine. He's making a list:</div>
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(while eating with a bunch of missionaries) "We're all getting older. AT THE SAME TIME."</div>
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"I'll never be able to take my fingers off. Like, they'll always be attached to my hand."</div>
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"What if we got a fog machine for the car? Then every time we opened the doors, it would be like 'fwoosh.'"</div>
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"You know what the best super power would be? If you could launch your head off of your body on a spring, like a jack in the box. I bet that would really freak people out." </div>
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I don't know if I was always like this and I didn't talk to enough people, or if there's something in the air in Illinois, but it's been super fun. My companion doesn't believe me when I say that I'm almost 22. He thinks I'm really a little kid stuck in an adult body, Big style. And he thinks that it's unfair that I got better faster than he did, because he eats pretty healthy, and the other morning I had Skittles for breakfast. This is truly the life. </div>
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I hope everything is going super well at home. A mission is awesome, don't trade it for anything. So many memories! Like, so many. </div>
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Elder Jordan Morgan</div>
Kristyn Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547091448290436347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563709381337769745.post-88380293927363947972014-08-18T17:46:00.002-07:002014-08-18T17:46:31.917-07:00Aha moment<div style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
This week has gone by SO FAST. It's ridiculous. It's because we've been super busy. We're trying to spend all of the time we have where we're not teaching investigators in members homes doing finding lessons with them. Finding ought to be done through the members, because that's the way to do it. Sometimes missionaries will get into that Superman way of thinking and be like "I'm just going to go out on find people on my own." That is a huge mistake, especially because this often turns out to be hours and hours of tracting. I'm sorry, but I do not like tracting. It doesn't give people a fair chance to actually hear our message, and when they open the door and see us standing there, their minds are flooded with untrue stereotypes that cause them to immediately close the door. Finding should be done through the members. I've been pushing it really hard, because for a bit, the missionaries and the members in this ward weren't unified. They got along just fine, but there wasn't a lot of unity on the missionary work. And when there's a problem, the answer is NEVER to just ignore it. You try to fix it, and if you can't, then you either find someone that can or move on. But don't ignore problems. </div>
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We've seen some fantastic people become reactivated in our ward! It's been awesome. I love serving a mission. And I'm glad I came home early. I was not ready to go out, and I was going out for the wrong reasons. I am confident that I would not have had the sorts of experiences I'm having now, had I gone out the first time. Also, something crazy I realized: So I've obviously been called to where I need to be. I have reasons that make me 100% sure of that. So if this mission is where I'm supposed to be, then why wasn't I called to it in the first place? I always struggled with that. But I received an answer: This mission didn't exist when I got my first call. This mission was about 1 year ago. Doodoodoodoodoodoodoodoo. (That's the Twilight Zone music.) But yeah, that was pretty intense. </div>
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Things have been going great out here. The summer has been really mild. That's because I brought all the good weather from Washington out here with me. I keep telling everyone that's thinking about moving to just move to Washington. It's simply the best state. </div>
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Send pictures! PICTURES!</div>
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We don't have a ton of time today, so I'll be ending the email here. This work is truly the work of The Lord. </div>
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Elder Jordan Morgan</div>
Kristyn Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547091448290436347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563709381337769745.post-45201889446227777512014-08-06T00:26:00.001-07:002014-08-06T00:26:10.851-07:00"Chester Macaroni"<br />
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This week has been pretty good. We had a ton of finding lessons with the members this week. We're working on getting the ward and the missionaries united on missionary work, and we figure the best way to do that is by listening to the same person: The Lord. So we've really been pushing revelation and been getting the members to commit to seek revelation on what they can do to further The Lord's work. It's been great. </div>
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So our super awesome recent convert had an amazing story to tell us this week. So he was the non-member in a part member family, and no one ever thought he would get baptized, but then he totally did and now he's on spiritual fire. Anyway, his wife had a really strong prompting from the spirit that they needed to move to Utah, even though she didn't have a job lined up, or a home, and he would have to quit his job. But he totally supported her, and the family left. They found a house, and she found a job, but he stayed here so that they woulnd't have a break in their income. In the time he was here, he was living with his boss. Anyway, last week their house in Utah kind of burned up. Not all the way down, but enough that they couldn't live there anymore. And then on sunday, he came and told us that they were actually going to stay in Illinois, because the guy he was living with offered him the vice-presidents position at his company! He compared the whole experience to Lehi fleeing to the wilderness, which it pretty much was. Everyone he knew was like "What on earth are you doing? Don't quit your job, don't move when you don't have a house down there, don't leave if you don't have any plans!" And now look what happned. He's going to be making a ton more money than he would've had they not even left for Utah. It was pretty crazy. And I'm super excited, because like I said, he's awesome. </div>
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Also, I need to tell you about another one of the stress dreams I've been having on my mission. I'm sure you can relate. You know, those dreams where you wake up and your just so relieved that it was all a dream? Actually, I have two:</div>
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1. I dreamed that elder Rowley and I were companions. I love elder Rowley, i was in the MTC with him. Anyway, I dreamed that I took the car by myself to Meijers (It's like a ghetto Winco), and started buying fireworks. Then all of the sudden, I was like "What am I doing? Where's my companion? Why am I buying fireworks? I need to get out of here!" I looked around for a place to put the fireworks, when all of the sudden I ran into my mission president and his wife, followed closely by elder Rowley, who was crying. I was relieved when I woke up. </div>
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2. I dreamed that I was companions with elder Linford, an Elder in my district at the time. He's super nice. Anyway, we were at the mall, but it looked like Evergreen, and we got in a fight. It was so bad that I wanted to be alone, so I went to the bathroom, but right before I opened the door, I turned around and swore at him, and a bunch of people heard. Then while I was in the bathroom, two ward members were outside, and they had the following conversation:</div>
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"Did elder Morgan just swear at his companion?"</div>
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"I think so, but it's ok."</div>
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Then I ended up on the front page of the newspaper because of it, with the following headline: </div>
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"Servants of the Lord, or of the devil? Mormon elder swears at his companion!"</div>
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Then my mission president was like "You've ruined the work in the area!" I woke up and I was like "Oh my gosh! Every time!" </div>
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Do you know a Russel family back in vancouver? Kayla and Jenna Russel? Because they live here, and Kayla went to Evergreen, and Jenna was living about 10 minutes from me while I was home from my mission. They know the Carnahans and the Muellers and the Babbs. Pretty much everyone. It's pretty crazy. </div>
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One of the less active members we're working with has the greatest cat ever. His name is Chester Macaroni, because he's orange and bendy. And super fat. But that's ok, because it makes him super chill. He's an orange tabby cat. I'll make sure to get a picture with him before I leave the area. </div>
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I have a cool story about why iPad's super helpful: We were talking to a less active sister in the ward, and I had to use the bathroom. When I came back, my companion and the member that came with us were having a discussion about what happens to stillborn children. The less active sister (who is AWESOME, by the way. She's like my grandma in the field.) had a stillborn child years ago, and she said that no one in the church has been able to give her a definite answer. All of the sudden the spirit took hold of my memory and put it to good use, and was like "You've read this in the Handbook 2: Administering to the Church." So I looked it up on the iPad in like, ten seconds, and read it to her, and she received spiritual confirmation it was true and started crying. So yeah, the iPad's are totally part of hastening the work. </div>
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I hope you enjoyed the pictures! And send more puzzles! Did you get my email about the maze puzzle?</div>
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Elder Jordan Morgan</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Me with Fo, the sunflower. The planter and the soil were gifts, but I bought the seed. I love her like I would my own child. We're also about to go do service, which explains the normal people clothes.</span><br />
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Me, beholding Fo's beauty...</div>
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Releasing balloons into the air with a really nice message and our phone number attached. We call it "sky contacting."</div>
Kristyn Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547091448290436347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563709381337769745.post-82682072703384787522014-07-28T19:40:00.000-07:002014-07-28T19:40:11.612-07:00Q & A<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Hello again family!</span><br />
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I will start by answering questions that Mom has sent me. It's tons easier to answer questions that to actually think of things to write. I'm excited. </div>
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[Is it hot and humid there?]</div>
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Yes. All the time. It's disgusting. Every morning, walk out onto the porch, take a deep breath, and say out loud:</div>
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"Man, I am so glad I live in Vancouver, Washington."</div>
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Seriously, it's the Garden of Eden up there. </div>
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[Are you getting along with your companion?]</div>
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Yep! We just had transfers. It was super sad seeing elder Sorenson go, but it was his time. He was excited, but nervous to go home. And it probably didn't help that I kept finding him articles about marriage in the Ensign. </div>
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Elder Seastrand is my new companion. He and I were actually in the same district last transfer, and we've been on exchanges before, so we get along. He just bought a bunch of Pokemon cards today, so that was awesome. </div>
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[How is the ward treating you?]</div>
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Pretty good. The problem is that they had a bad missionary a couple of years back, and everyone remembers him. So it's hard getting them to trust us. But we have several fantastic families in the ward that are willing to do a lot to help us further the work. </div>
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[What keeps me firm in the Gospel when I experience doubts and challenges?]</div>
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Several things. Diligent scripture study is a big help, as well as prayer. I also try to always remember the spiritual experiences I've had in my life. Satan is really good at getting us to forget the things that built up our faith in the first place. I ask God to help me remember the events in my life that have developed my testimony, and that helps a lot. </div>
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Not much has happened this week. I got to see elder Rowley from my MTC district and talk to him about this business idea elder Klake and I had in the MTC. He's totally on board. Good thing we don't have to worry about that for a while, but still, exciting! </div>
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I also figured out that Slenderman is real. He's Cain. It all makes sense. </div>
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What kind of car did you get? I want pictures! Also, i'm working on taking more pictures, so expect some of me next week. </div>
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I can't think of much else to say. We have a couple of investigators that are progressing, and we're excited about them. The biggest thing that has helped me with missionary work is genuinely caring about the people you serve. That's a big one. All our investigators are awesome. </div>
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I hope everything is going well back home! I keep thinking about Spongebob for some reason. You should watch another episode for family home evening. Maybe the one where he rips his pants. Or the one where they deliver the pizza. Or the marching band one. Or the one where Patrick helps Spongebob pass his boating exam. Those ones are all awesome. </div>
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Elder Jordan Morgan</div>
Kristyn Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547091448290436347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563709381337769745.post-10967742551995015072014-07-22T23:12:00.002-07:002014-07-22T23:12:42.857-07:00If The Nineth Lion Ate the Sun<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Hello again family! </span><br />
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What is new... The crazy bible basher lady has started to ignore us when we see her. We think it's a combination of our refusal to argue, us helping her sister find her house, and one of our investigators talking to her. Make a note: Being Christlike is good. It only took me 21 years. Go figure. =)</div>
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So people always ask "What advice do you have for someone who is preparing to go on a mission?" It's a hard question to answer, because you don't want to say something that is super obvious, like "Read the scriptures." (You should, though. Read the scriptures.) You also don't want to say something really nebulous, like "Become a disciple of Christ." You want to give something easy to understand, and practical. So this week as I was pondering this, I had a flash of inspiration. Something that really, truly helped me prepare for my mission. So to all those who are wondering what you can do to prepare to serve a mission, this is the advice I give:</div>
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Work in retail. </div>
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I am not joking in the slightest. A large chain shopping market is preferable. Lowe's, Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, Wal-Mart if you're particularly brave. I can't think of anything I did back home that gave me more practical experience for what the mission field is like than working customer service at Lowe's. So that is the advice I give you all. </div>
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This week has been good. Three of our investigators have doing super well. Like, they're about ready to fall into the font. It's going to be awesome. One is a black couple in their 80's, and they are pretty much some of the coolest people out there. And I've met his mom, who is 99, about to turn 100, so my idea of "old" has been changed forever. We're super excited for all of them. Imagine that? The thing I like most about my mission so far is meeting new people! Maybe it's because I don't have the internet anymore. But people are like a human internet! Does that make sense? Probably not. Oh well. </div>
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So I found out that my new companion is Elder Seastrand, who is actually in our district already, and he's awesome. We've been on exchanges before! Also, this will be my fourth transfer in Plainfield, which I am totally fine with, because Plainfield is pretty awesome and I love the people here. We're going to convert the whole city, Dan Jones style. Or like that episode of the Simpsons with The Leader. "A Leader Bean!" </div>
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Also, elder Seastrand and I have decided to start every morning by leaping out of the bed at 6:30 and high-fiving in the air. We just want to get each day started off on the right foot. It's going to be awesome. </div>
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So has anything interesting happened back home? We really don't hear anything. And we're fine with that, because we've learned that the world is an awful place. Like elder Sorenson was scrolling down on facebook and saw that someone he knew posted the trailer for 50 shades of grey, and everyone was super excited. Showed me some of the comments people were making, and I was like "We live in Babylon!" It's alright. Christ is coming back. And there's going to come a point where the world is going to need to lean on the members of this church. </div>
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I hope everything is going well, because things are going great here. I've found out that I'm in charge of what I like, so I'm not worried about losing my personality, or doing anything that I don't like, because I can just decide to like it! It works super well, you should all try it if you're not doing it already. I love you all!</div>
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Elder Jordan Morgan</div>
Kristyn Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547091448290436347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563709381337769745.post-52327797937182870602014-07-15T00:42:00.001-07:002014-07-15T00:42:39.665-07:00The Pros and Cons<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">This week has been a little bit eventful:</span><br />
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We found 5 new potential investigators this week. That was pretty sweet. We teach them tonight and tomorrow. They're all totally getting baptized. </div>
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The members do feed us really well. I've become a legend in the ward because I don't eat a ton. I'm just not a big fan of food in general. Which is fine, because it keeps me from gaining weight. Seriously, you look at the pictures of some of the missionaries out here before their mission, and you can hardly recognize them. </div>
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My favorite parts about being on a mission are: </div>
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1. The time goes really fast, because you are really busy. </div>
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2. You get to spend all of your time teaching/talking to people about the gospel.</div>
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3. You get to meet cool people and find out more about them. </div>
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4. You get to see really weird things. Like, really weird. </div>
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5. You get to make some cool friends. Elder K is one of my best friends now, and we're going to start a business together when we get back from our missions. </div>
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There are more, but I can't think of any off of the top of my head. </div>
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Some things that are challenging:</div>
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1. People won't listen to you. </div>
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2. Our ward in particular doesn't exactly trust missionaries. I guess the ones they've had in the past were a little lacking. Like the one who, while living with members, would sneak out at night to go spend time with a less active girl in the ward. And then, after his mission, came back and married her. That sort of thing tends to make people not trust missionaries that well. </div>
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3. I miss the internet. The internet is awesome. I also realize how much fun stuff I had to do back home, and how I never did any of it. Seriously, i'm never going to even be able to be bored again. </div>
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But my mission has been fantastic so far, and it's only going to keep getting better. It's weird to think that i've served six months. And there was a year in between two of those, so it went by really fast. I'm glad I'm out here. </div>
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I hope everyone is doing well. It's super great to hear about everyone being super spiritual. Please do everything you can to keep that up, because it'll be awesome. I've seen what happens to families that start to relax when it comes to spiritual things out here, and it's not good. </div>
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I will write again next week. Have fun!</div>
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Jordan</div>
Kristyn Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547091448290436347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563709381337769745.post-55673548193657655202014-06-09T09:50:00.003-07:002014-06-09T09:50:28.710-07:00Best Day of My Mission Yet!<span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Good Morning Family!</span><br />
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Sit down my friends and saddle your children on your laps, as I tell you the story of...</div>
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THE GREATEST DAY OF MY MISSION EVER</div>
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June 7, 2014</div>
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7:00 am- Elder Sorenson and I begin filling the font at the church. It takes about 2 1/2 hours. As per tradition, we watched The Phone Call on <a href="http://lds.org/">lds.org</a>. It is super hilarious, and you should all watch it. </div>
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9:30 am- Elder Sorenson and I successfully clean the font out with a pool skimmer of our own invention.</div>
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10:00 am- Jon's baptism. It was super amazing! We had one of our investigators come, as well as Jon's sister and mother, who are not members. The spirit was super strong and our investigator had a fantastic time and is starting to open up more. </div>
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12:00 pm- Jon invites us to Chili's to celebrate with he and his family. Awesome. </div>
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12:10 pm- The Zone Leaders stop us to give us something. It was your package! And what a package is was. It was truly amazing.</div>
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12:15 pm- We find out that the Lindsey Stirling album you sent is not the one that we've listened to about 500 times, but is in fact her brand new one, Shatter Me. And it is BOSS. You should all listen to it. </div>
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12:30 pm- Chili's. We met another one of Jon's sisters, and we had a really good discussion with both of them. </div>
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2:00 pm- We find out that the Professor Layton CD has a ton more music on it than we thought it would, and it was all AWESOME. Whoever burned that, props to them. </div>
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2:15 pm- We notice that one of the less actives in our ward who we have never gotten to meet with is having a garage sale. We talk to her for about 20 minutes and set up a time to meet with her. We also found out that she works for Monster Truck, and that she produces their television shows, which is like, one of my dream jobs. I talked to her about how she got to that position, and it was super informative. She also gave us a lamp, which we needed, so that was awesome.</div>
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2:45 pm- We move a couch from Oswego to our apartment that a ward member wanted to donate to the mission. There's something satisfying about successfully moving a couch in the truck. </div>
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6:30 pm- We get to meet with a member who is becoming less active. He is super awesome, and really funny. We had a great time with him, and he got really excited about coming to church the next day. </div>
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8:00 pm- We start dinner. Today was transfer calls, so we had been waiting all day to hear from the assistants whether or not we would even be getting a call, and if so, what would be happening.</div>
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8:30 pm- We get a text from the assistants saying that we WILL be getting a transfer call. </div>
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8:45 pm After much mourning, elder Sorenson figures out that we might not be getting transferred, but rather I might be getting called as district leader. I find out that not only has he not been in a leadership position on his mission, he does not want to. I tell him that that pretty much guarantees he's going to serve as district leader for his last transfer. He disagrees. We have a new hope.</div>
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9:00 pm- The phone rings. It's President Fenn. Elder Sorenson can't believe his eyes. We talk to him, and he tells us that we're not being transferred and that Elder Sorenson is being made district leader. I was freaking out, because I was totally right. As soon as he hangs up the phone, I run to our study room and start blasting We Are the Champions. Elder Sorenson remains chagrined, but happy that we get to stay together. </div>
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10:30 pm- Bedtime. The end of the greatest day of my mission ever.</div>
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It was pretty awesome. I'm not sure there could be a better day. </div>
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How is everyone doing back home? I have no idea what's going on back home. Please email, family! And thanks to those of you who do. </div>
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I'm having the time of my life out here, and it's all because of my attitude. Your attitude is one of the few things you truly have 100% control over, and it affects your outlook on life. So be in a good mood!</div>
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Jordan</div>
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Kristyn Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547091448290436347noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7563709381337769745.post-17488020134258854882014-05-28T07:55:00.001-07:002014-05-28T07:55:03.053-07:00I was hugged<span style="font-family: Helvetica; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Hello again family!</span><br />
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They actually moved our pday to today because they wanted us to proselyte on memorial day. Make sure everyone knows that that's the reason I didn't email yesterday. I don't want anyone to be all like "Oh no! Jordan hates me!" </div>
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We got locked out of our apartment again this week. Luckily, we had installed some blinds on one of our bedroom windows and had left the window unlocked, so my companion hoisted me up there and I made a less than graceful entrance into the room. It was pretty hilarious. </div>
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We have an investigator preparing for baptism on the 7th! He's super excited. His wife has been a member for a while, and he's excited to be able to share this part of her life. It'll be awesome when they can finally be sealed in the temple. Also, he's just the coolest guy. </div>
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One of our investigators hugged me this week. He's 93 years old, so he gets the honor of being the oldest person I've ever hugged. </div>
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If you've sent a package, I still haven't got it and probably until I go to the transfer meeting. And we'll only go to that if one of us gets transferred, so we'll see. Did you send those CD's?</div>
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Life has been good out here in Plainfield. It's starting to get a little warm, and it gets really humid out here, so that's been fun. It's fine, though. I try to look on the positive side of things. Like how walking is a ton of fun, and it burns calories!</div>
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So I've devised a puzzle for the family to solve. You might need to post it on the family website if you're having trouble. </div>
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A2, B4, C6, D8, E3, F1, G7, H5</div>
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_ _ _ _ _ _ (A six letter word)</div>
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BOSQR FKU KJ EOQEGDJB RCS EKNS. RCS SDBCR MTSSJP DP KJS KA IY AQVKODRSE. US PTOS RK NODJG YKTO KVQHRDJS. </div>
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Best of luck to you. </div>
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I can't think of much else that has happened this week, but I also don't remember what happens to me all that well. The days are starting to all roll together. It's crazy to think that I'm a week away from 5 months. That's crazy! And when thinking about how there was a year in between four of those months, that's even crazier! Time goes by so fast. I'm working on paying more attention to the present, and savoring it, because in 20 years these will be "The good old days." So i'm trying to enjoy them while I'm in them. </div>
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Make sure to pray every day, preferably morning and night, and really study the Book of Mormon every day. Seriously, it will make your life so much better. The Book of Mormon is a tool that God has given us to assist in our receiving of revelation, and it totally works. Also, if you write down what God tells you, I've found that He's more willing to say more. </div>
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Elder Jordan Morgan</div>
Kristyn Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547091448290436347noreply@blogger.com0